If you could eliminate one MLB franchise which team would it be? Why?
I would remove the Devil Rays, move the Marlins to the AL in spite of their recent titles, and move Pittsburgh to the NL East, making 3 divisions of 5 in the NL.
I don't really have a well-thought out reason, but they have the shortest tradition and are not particularly competitive.
Tampa Bay. They've got no fanbase, a bad stadium and no track record of success.
I'd rather eliminate one state's MLB franchises. That state would be the one that begins with "F" and ends with "lorida." Their ownership groups' money-grubbing ways, attempted shakedowns of local government and the lack of adequate local fan support for each make them an embarrassment to the game.
I would eliminate the Diamondbacks, because they have a silly name and purple on their uniforms, and because it would help out the Reds in the wild card race.
I would eliminate the Cubs and move the DRays to Chicago. At least the DRays only been around less than 2 decades, the Cubs have near a century of being bad.
I get rid of the Washington Nationals and move the Florida Marlins to Charlotte, NC. The Nats last year went from 1st to last all in 2 1/2 months and this year have made a bad name for themselves with the Reds organization for the "Trade." They have good pieces in that organization but nothing that will get them to the next level.. so have a draft and have teams add some needs to their organization.
I would eliminate the Cardinals. I don't care about how St. Louis has the alleged best fans, how Tony LaRussa is supposedly a genius, Albert Pujols is the second coming of Lou Gehrig. I hate them and would eliminate them. (Your question didn't ask for a sane, reasonable response).
Your question didn't ask for a sane, reasonable response.
I might grant you the last 60 years, but before 1945, they were National League champs ten times, World Series champs twice during that time, appearing in 4 of the first 6 World Series ever played (winning two, as I said).
While they've become legendary as not having won a World Series in over 90 years, they have fielded some good teams. The teams Leo Durocher managed had some pretty decent players on them.
Yep, in my Putman history of the National League (which came out in 1947) the Cubs history is storied while the Reds is the one colored with failure. What's also prevalent is that the Cubs had a loyal fanbase then as well, it's mentioned that the Cubs don't have to win to finish in the top tier of the league in attendance, for the loyal fans will turn out anyway.
Prior to this year here's where the Reds and Cubs stood since the NL went to 8 teams in 1900.
Yeah, but take out the 1900-1910 period when the Cubs were actually really good.
The "reasoned" part of me would think one of the Flordia teams for the reasons given above.
The "irrational RZ emotion" part of me says the Dodgers. Sorry, my hatred of them from my youth knows no bounds.
move the Nats to the AL and put 5 teams in every division. That would make sense to me. I think that if you remove one, then you have to take out another to make it even. In that case, I would get rid of both Florida teams.
move the Nats to the AL and put 5 teams in every division. That would make sense to me.
That makes the divisions look nice on paper, but gets ugly for scheduling. Do we really want NL v. AL matchups on opening day or the last weekend of the regular season? With a 15 & 15 league split, there's an interleague game every day that has a full schedule.
Yeah, you have to get rid of two teams.
I don't like the idea of contracting the Marlins since they have won a championship.
Get rid of Tampa, and Washington, and move Milwaukee back to the AL.
how about not playing a full schedule. one team can have a day off everyday. I don't see how that would be a problem.
I think an empty cash register would not be what MLB wants to do. Of course, eliminating a team or two does the same thing as well, I guess.
Saying the cubs have a "loyal fanbase" with respect to attendance is incorrect. Its the trendy thing to do in Chicago. The bleachers are some of the first tickets to sell out (and some of the more expensive) not because they are great seats but because its a great place to ditch work for. Its sad for the guys I work with, they grew up huge Cub fans and now can't even find (let alone afford) tickets for their families, due to the yuppies with their blackberries taking up the seats of honest to goodness baseball fans.
Okay, make it 60 years. Still nothing to be proud of if you can't get anything done in 60 years.
That died for about a decade and a half in the 1970s and early 80s. Granted, those teams were miserable for the most part.
1984 made it "cool" to go to Wrigley.
I would like to see the English Premiere Soccer league version of this. Lose 100+ games 2 years in a row, and you get a demotion to AAA. Let the AAA league winners have a playoff to take the spots.
In all seriousness, and without consideration to how we would need to rearrange the teams and leagues, one team that I might genuinely elimate is the Rockies. Humidor notwithstanding, it's always going to be very difficult for that team to compete regardless of management or money or talent. That's just sad.
If elevation is a problem let's go after the Braves too.
Perfect, we've just evened the leagues!
See how easy that is, Bud?
A number of AAA cities now were once in one or another of the other officially recognized Major Leagues. Toledo had two teams in the American Association when it was a ML, in 1884 and in 1890. While Pawtucket didn't have an entry, Providence, RI did from 1878-1885 in the National League.
Other minor league cities who had clubs in some of the old leagues then considered major are Altoona, PA; Buffalo, Columbus, Hartford, CT; Indianapolis; Louisville; Richmond, VA; Rochester; Syracuse; Troy, NY; Worcester, MA; and St. Paul (The Apostles!). Of course, a number of current major league towns used to be minor league towns too.
Other minor league cities who had clubs in some of the old leagues then considered major are Altoona, PA; Buffalo, Columbus, Hartford, CT; Indianapolis; Louisville; Richmond, VA; Rochester; Syracuse; Troy, NY; Worcester, MA; and St. Paul (The Apostles!). Of course, a number of current major league towns used to be minor league towns too.Then they instituted a rule that the city had to have at least 75K.
Worcester is the reason the Reds were thrown out of the NL in the 1880, the game had a bigger hold on the eastern seaboard and thus a lot of the games rules permeated from that part of the country. The Puritian folks of Massachusettes didn't care for the German tradition of drinking and the fact that some teams (not the Reds) were allowing the watching of games on Sunday in a rented ballpark owned by the Reds.
"Puritanical Worcester is not liberal Cincinnati by a jugful, and what is sauce for Worcester is wind for the Queen City. Beer and Sunday amusements have become a popular necessity in Cincinnati."
30 teams is perfect. Just get them in the right cities. Washington seems to deserve a baseball team, IMO. Tampa has the size but will the local team ever get a solid fan base. I think most who live there support other teams. Get the Marlins a stadium in miami and move Tampa to Brooklyn. Brooklyn should build a stadium and have a team. Baseball should trash the old traditional AL and NL as leagues and just combine into one league with 5 Divisions.
5 Division winners are seeded 1 thru 5 and 3 wild cards are seeded 6 thru 8. Play each team within division 18 times for 90 games. Play 3 games against each team outside the division for 72 games. As an example, one year the Reds would play the yanks in NY. The next year the Yanks would come to cincy. For the all star game, you could use the original AL-NL affiliation to split into 2 All star teams. All playoff series are 7 game series.
Oh yeh, get rid of the DH!
I don't know that I would contract a team but I would bar Jeffrey Loria from ever owning a team.
He's the pud that started the obscene franchise price spiral. When Angelos was going after the O's Loria appeared out of nowhere with an absurd price, it truely trumped Angelo's, who wanted the team more, so he trumped that price despite not really wanting to go there.
The other owners (and Bud) loved it, they saw that it would help them out whne they sold (Right Bud?) You have to think that one of the caveats for the Expos move to D.C. was that Loria couldn't be the owner of that group, hence the switch to Fla, meanwhile he spins his magic down there, parlaying another franchise into a big money move.
He's a modern day Bob Short.
Dump Milwaukee. I can't stand Bud. And that goes for Wendy too.
I would eliminate the Royals organization. The team is bad, minors are empty, and ownership is bad. Then move the Rays to take the place of the Royals. Move the Marlins to Vegas, and eliminate the Rockies. You can't get rid of Washington with a new stadium deal just completed. At least the Rockies are 11 years into their stadium deal.